Four Is the Magic Number
(here if not on the School House Rock)
Honestly
There’s God
And also me
And you
And Earth
And what is self
And what is other
Goes fluidly
In
And through
And between
All things
In all dimensions
And we are close
And we are far
Apart
And yet
Always the next best thing
Is you
And/or me
And Earth
It’s what we got
There might be
Nothing nearer
Or more
Joyful
Either
So relish in existence
Keep it simply
Joyful
In the four things
Four elements
Four essences
We have
With currents
Moving through
And ‘round
And in between
All four
Or if you have it
Fewer
Or more
C L Couch
Photo by Elimende Inagella on Unsplash
Sooners
Soon
And very soon
What a wonderful way
To say that
A promise
That we won’t have long to wait
Before the bad things
End
The good things
Might be realized
Unsullied
Snow
Without mud
Or slush
Beneath
And spring beside
Well
Whatever season
We might need
A place for each one
And whatever
Passes for meals
In there
And meetings
With a purpose
The only agenda
Love
A life
And such a life
Soon
And very soon
C L Couch
Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=3898658
is herein the shape of heaven?
though the soons I borrowed here are more from Andraé Crouch
In the Day of the Lord
Well
God
What shall you give
Today
There is the day
There will be daylight
Well-
Insinuated
In an hour or so
There will be more
Time
In hours
Time to choose
For those
Who may choose
Who aren’t
Conscripted otherwise
Drafting
Oneself
For cause
But then
The cause
Might be a wonder
How about family
About
The partner
Who works out
In
Intimacy
As well as
What is profound
When about one’s nation
Call it people
Call it country
Group
Tribe
State
Region
Everything that has a name
Maybe a living
Constitution
For a document
For walks
The simple
And sublime
Which faces our distraction
And decisions
All the time
And certainly
Today
And God
There is more than patriotism
There is the reason for it
And the rest
That is
Well
You
And what you say
You make
What you say and make
That is creation
Whose pages form
A scripture
Every day
And then the book itself
Shelved
We take down
Perhaps
We hear someone else
Reading
And from which
Some teaching
Though the hour
Is a sermon
Too
This hour
Then the next
Should we have the next
Odds say
We’ll have
Inside our complex bodies
Have a day that’s plain
Landing here or there
Pleine aire
Or chez lui
And should one
Ask oneself
About salvation
Or get the question
From another
Answer
We hope so
C L Couch
Photo by Alex Guillaume on Unsplash
[photographer’s caption] In New York, in a little shop, those watches where there, hanging in front of me!
(x = space)
x
x
having been incarnated
x
oh
God
we say
you’re born
you’ve slipped inside
the pacing
of the world
flesh cells
adapting
to our measure
to our growth
and our decay
three score and ten
how does it
feel
x
I guess you knew
what this was
and is the human part
surprised
by mortal beats
the skipping
of the heart
outside
the rhythm
as we say
of the spheres
x
and are you well
will you
catch cold
or get mumps
have influenza
as our children must
from time to time
it seems
x
and you
will endure
(you must)
though it won’t be
so comfortable
with chicken pox
x
and then
grown-up
to feel
all that we feel
and think inside the vacuum
the shell
of thoughts
inhabiting the skull
and not much further on
nothing like
the mindset
you must know
inside eternity
and Godhead
x
and there are feelings
in the chest
desire
for the nation
yes
and only
for your own
because you are
humanly
entitled
x
yet what shall you have
when your body
it turns out
is for a cause
even
perhaps part of a plan
to cheat mortality
like the stratagems
of Pharisees
or statues of
self-styled kings
or emperors
x
Rome and Judea
and there is Parthia
and Britain
way-off China
and there’s India
and there are first people
everywhere
who belong
where they have moved
and stopped
and finally
no place to move
with what they have
for moving
x
all the people
of the Earth
post-Alexander
and never having known
Alexandrian expansion
or Roman roads
connecting
a known world
x
yet
are you here
for these
everywhere
which means
you might be here for us
here and now
x
I suppose
the other two
of you
will out
while you alone
are limited
while you must live here
with only us
for easy company
and reaching out
like us
often alone
sometimes in groups
though only through the shell
as we must beseech
mortally
unto the Lord
with questions
asking of a will
we do not understand
yet we believe
is there
x
how frustrating to be human
welcome here
we wish you well
we really do
because should we encounter you
there are stories
about something special
from you
something even
we don’t know
rescuing
about you
even in the flesh
x
c l couch
x
x
photo by BoliviaInteligente on Unsplash
x
(x = space)
x
x
some poems for you today
(some poems of the day)
x
x
night will come on
x
second full day of winter
a thoughtful day
perhaps
x
day before the night
before the day
still a blue or purple day
white or gold
in the offing
x
another yet another
gray day outside
to look at it
to feel it
too
there’s something of a chill
x
maybe it’s three ghosts
warming up
in an ethereal bullpen
before descending upon London
or wherever
whoever Scrooge
might try to sleep
inside posts of tarnished gold
having eaten
unappreciated food
and nothing for the child
Want or Ignorance
not yet
x
we can await
transition
transformation
of a night
in a great story
sometimes on Earth
the real Earth
to know
x
x
the allusion is, of course, “A Christmas Carol” by Charles Dickens, often published with other Christmas stories
x
x
multiplicity
x
sigh
a great God
comes to Earth
having been here already
shooed us from the
garden
set an angel with a sword
to keep us out
should we find it
however accidently
once again
x
a God
who’s always here
already
thus begging a confusion
since we make a deal
of God arriving
though God is here
x
well
the ancients
didn’t have that problem
paradox in time
like characters
from Bible stories
costumed as one’s own
also
in Old English
for example
without a future tense
x
so that
every time is now
and the next thing
and the thing
that was
no worries
x
God is always here
always arriving
too
everything a kind of participle
or a gerund
the subject in or as
a tense
that is all timelines
all the time
x
confused mortality
perhaps
yet replicating
meter of a chaosed clock
that has numbers
that
for the sake of our philosophy
are movable
forgettable
in the exigencies
of moments’
having
and remembering
also anticipating
x
always the birth
always the apocalypse
as well
meaning that
time and meaning
have all seeds
and growth
and harvest
with all accounts
as with all stories
every gospel
all the same
with kairos room for change
here and now
and then
and what’s to come
all the same
here
and in a kind of ancient
(that means contemporary
too)
crazy and amenable
as now
x
was
is
will
as now
x
bless our ancients
for knowing something
of
the ways things magically
and really are
today
from yesterday
into divine best-guessing
for tomorrow
x
x
servile
x
what shall we say
that’s permanent
except that God is love
God is a spirit
plus all better metaphors
a rock
a lion
x
who has an investment
in every good
and reasoned thing
in need
for us to call it miracle
x
water from
desert stone
food in ravens’ mouths
that they abey
until
delivery
x
God strives
to keep the prophets
whole
for the rest of us to
hear
and to absorb
the entire
story
letting
the wisdom
and the warnings
to soak in
through all
our cells
supernal messages
easier metaphors
for meaning
x
no riddles
save for fun
sometimes erudition
(though the simple ones
are better
aren’t they
Bilbo)
no requirements
beyond a willing
and created nature
x
there being
no stars for gain
(there are no Sneetches
and there is no
McBean)
no refectories
with sainted machines
dispensing
when the answer
or indulgence
might be right
that is
Earthly correct
x
rather leave
our kitchens
for serving
real food
for need
and in a turn
for pleasure
since there’s no reason
service should not be
pleasant
as well as exigent
with even
seasons to remember
the life outside
inside
x
the gospel within
food
perhaps
though better
after
so that we might be
sated twice
with victuals
and nourishment
from stories
forgetting not
our own
x
x
the clock that smiles
x
tomorrow go to church
or last night
this evening
later the next day
until the sun
decides
to set
and an indulgent clock
must by the maker
say
it’s had enough
x
there is this morning
too
there is right now
and shall we worship
God
inside a heartbeat
savoring the next
secured
inside
the believing beat
of now
x
x
c l couch
x
x
photo by Dominic Tham on Unsplash
x
x
God bless
our in-between days
x
(x = space)
x
x
Exiled
x
Oh
God
Shall we have
A good season
Together
The year has started
And now
Another season
x
Intentions
Overlap
You come into the world
And you are here
The Earth tilts
And always
Has
Far as we know
x
Turns
Like a top
A toy to such as you
Though you
Are not a giant god
That way
x
You play
But not with us as
Playthings
Upon the Earth
An unrolled
Plastic battlefield
x
We toy each other
Which is
An eldritch lesson
We came up with
On our own
x
Objectify
‘Til someone doesn’t matter
Like Cain
Like everyone in western Asia
Like anyone who’s different
Over here
x
We need a season
Need the time
But shall we be reborn
With remembrance
Of a real birth
To save the nations
Ransom
Captive Israel
Then all the rest
x
C L Couch
x
x
Photo by Jorge Fernández Salas on Unsplash
x
(x = space)
x
x
the deep
x
and God
I know you’re here
you’re always here
thank goodness
in
the quiet
and noise
sometimes the shame
or simply the embarrassment
in doubt
in pride
in vanity
x
I learned
no height
or pit
no place
either
where you are
are not
x
you’ll find me
where I am
and as I am
not so much
because of me
but because
of who you are
the spirit
and the way
x
life
direction
comfort in the cold
shade in heat
clearness
when in doubt
identity
when everything
inside is lost
and no one knows
the goodness
in creation
or the facts
of the next day
x
you are there
you are here
we have a chance
and better
roll the dice
palm the token
‘round the neck
or in the pocket
x
they are not needed
but we like
our things
x
comfort in the cold
shade when it is hot
water
when it’s necessary
and all the rest
while
we are here
in dreams
or vanity of waking
x
no height
or depth
so far
we do not know you
or you don’t reach
to take us
anyway
x
c l couch
x
“There is no pit so deep God’s love is not deeper still.“
Betsie ten Boom to Corrie
x
x
photo by Eric Muhr on Unsplash
x
(x = space)
x
x
The God of Editing
x
I looked it up
The plural form
Typed it so
The red line remained
Then I breathed on it
The red line went away
What
x
What kind of cooperation
Might exist
And serve
Between divinity
Electron understanding
And me
x
A muse took pity
On my breathing
Or the computer took its time
Somehow
And then the timing
Because maybe God is funny
And has a time of it
Messing
With our loves
x
C L Couch
x
x
x
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